Disney's Snow White Remake Struggles to Break Even After Slow Box Office Start

Snow White, directed by Marc Webb of The Amazing Spider-Man fame, experienced a challenging opening weekend at the box office, pulling in a domestic total of $43 million. This figure marks one of the lowest opening weekends for any Disney live-action remake to date. According to Comscore, this debut was enough to lead the week's chart and rank as the second highest domestic opening of 2025, trailing only behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Captain America: Brave New World. However, it fell short of the $45 million opening achieved by the live-action Dumbo in 2019 and did not meet pre-release estimates.

For comparison, other Disney remakes have seen significantly stronger starts. The Lion King (2019), Beauty and the Beast (2017), The Jungle Book (2016), and The Little Mermaid (2023) all surpassed the $100 million mark in their domestic opening weekends.

Internationally, Snow White's performance was similarly subdued, with an opening weekend haul of $44.3 million, bringing its global total to $87.3 million, as per Comscore estimates.

This live-action adaptation of Disney's 1937 animated classic features Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. With a reported production budget exceeding $250 million, the film faces a steep challenge to break even, particularly when factoring in marketing expenses.

Despite the initial setback, there is potential for Snow White to follow in the footsteps of Mufasa: The Lion King, a prequel to Disney's The Lion King remake. Mufasa opened to a modest $35.4 million domestically but ultimately grossed over $717 million worldwide. Disney is likely hoping for a similar 'sleeper hit' success with Snow White, especially as questions continue to swirl around the performance of Captain America: Brave New World, which has earned $400.8 million globally after six weekends.

IGN's review of Snow White awarded it a 7/10, praising it as a meaningful adaptation of the original rather than a mere imitation.